


And Another Thing

by fabulously_frenzied



Series: ML Oneshots [5]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Chat Noir needs a behavior check, Identity Reveal, Oneshot, Rating for Language, Saltinette, ladybug is NOT happy, ml salt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 07:36:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19786252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabulously_frenzied/pseuds/fabulously_frenzied
Summary: A line has been crossed, Ladybug snaps, and Chat Noir needs to rethink the way he acts.





	And Another Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Hey frenz! I just got back from a mission trip where I was not around my phone much. Once again, I am high as a kite on ML salt (it’s so cathartic), and this time around I am hooked on the idea that Adrien/Chat _really_ needs to check himself before he wrecks himself. Kid’s not quite the golden child everyone paints him to be.
> 
> Also, I might have just wanted an excuse to use the line "don't you _'Princess'_ me!"

Another day, another akuma. A year and a half into the hero life, Chat Noir is very accustomed to this routine. In all honesty, as annoying as akuma battles could be, and as aggravating as it was that he and Ladybug still hadn’t turned up any leads on the notorious Hawkmoth, he _kind_ of looked forward to it. After all, it meant escaping the prison that is his father’s mansion and time spent with his Lady. Could he complain? Yes. Would he? Not really. Sarcastically, sure, but not really. 

This particular encounter had been on the trickier side, and had nearly gotten to Ladybug a number of times. It had lunged for her more than what made Chat comfortable, and it all happened in a moment: he saw his opportunity to buy Ladybug some time, and instantly threw himself in the path of danger. He didn’t vanish, he wasn’t swallowed whole. Instead, the akuma’s massive claws, much larger than the ones that came with his suit, had sliced clean through him, and just like that, his world had gone dark. 

The only thing he remembers after the initial sear of pain through his torso and Ladybug’s ear-splitting shriek, before the blackness consumed him, was a million tiny red lights flashing in front of him. He woke up, realized he wasn’t dead anymore, patted his chest to make sure everything was all there (not that he would really have been able to tell otherwise, but it didn’t _feel_ like anything was missing, at least), and looked around frantically for Ladybug. He expected she’d be happy to see him up and about and all right again. Instead, her reaction was a little more unexpected: she shrieked a second time, lassoed him with her yo-yo, and chucked him up onto a distant, deserted rooftop. 

He notices he’s been tied to a satellite pole extending from the rooftop. He, naturally, can’t help but wonder why. 

"Why, m’lady," he croons, "I’m all for rough play, but don’t you think this is taking things a bit fast? Let me at least buy you dinner first. Or coffee. Do you like coffee? I know a really good café not far from here, but if you’d rather—"

" _YOU!_ " Oh. He thought the shrieking had stopped. She’s pointing a finger centimeters away from his face, just like she would to playfully boop him on the nose or ring the bell on his zipper. This time, it feels a lot more like she’s brandishing a knife at him. Her eyes are frighteningly fiery for how wet they are right now, and he thinks if she grinds her teeth any harder, she might not have any left by the end of the night. He’s never seen her so tense before. Actually, maybe "tense" is the wrong word. And, now that he considers it, "angry" is also too weak. She’s definitely bordering "livid" at the moment, and... hmm, is that a hint of "betrayed" he smells? Why?

"You!" she screams again. "Why do you keep doing that?"

Uh. "Doing what, m’lady?"

" _That!_ " She gestures wildly around her. "All of that! All of what just happened! Why do you keep doing it?"

Oh. "I was just trying to buy you some time," he shrugs. Judging by her guttural yell, that was the wrong answer.

"You _left me alone!_ And this is a _recurring_ problem!"

"Uh." Nice one. Real smooth, Agreste. "What do you mean?"

"You expect me to fix everything!" She growls, and suddenly he's wondering whether he's actually the cat here anymore. "You throw yourself in the line of fire without even _saying_ anything, and now this whole thing is all up to _me_ to solve!"

"I don't—"

"Why am I the only thing that matters to you? Are you even aware that there's a whole city right now being terrorized by a man in a ridiculous purple suit who exploits people's negative emotions, making us all feel bad for being _human?_ You goof around and flirt during the heat of battle, because that's _definitely_ what you should be focusing on in those moments, and when you're not making an ass of yourself, you're not there! You show up late, you get yourself disintegrated or turned into time-travel fuel or trapped under _some_ zombifying transformation, and suddenly I'm on my own! Do you even care about how that makes me feel? The stress that puts me under every single time you pull those stunts? Do you know how many times... how many times I've watched you _die?_ " Her earrings are beeping, but she doesn't seem to hear them.

"M'lady, your—"

"I'm not finished, you... you _stupid cat!_ There's, like, a total communication block with you, too. Everything I ever tell you goes in one ear and out the other. Like all those times you were flirting and I rejected your advances, either because it wasn't an appropriate time or I had already told you I _wasn't interested?_ Do you listen? You claim that I'm the only one you care about, but if you cared so much, wouldn't you at least consider the way _I_ feel for once? How about Glaciator, where I _specifically told you_ I wouldn't be coming to your... _whatever_ it was you'd set up that night, and then you pitched a fit, inhibiting our ability to fight, when I didn't come like I told you I wouldn't? You don't have the right! All your stupid little advances. Don't think I don't see you ogling me when we're supposed to be fighting—which, by the way, is _not fucking cool,_ Chat. I'm not a model, I'm not a trophy, and it _certainly_ isn't going to make me fall in love with you because you objectify me. How are we supposed to be a team when I'm the only one ever paying attention? Do you even care at all?

"Everyone out there? They all think of me as one thing: a savior. And let me tell you, it _fucking sucks._ All those people, they don't even see me as a person! I'm not a person to them, not a human, not a normal girl trying like hell to live a normal life. I'm not even a fucking person to them, I'm just a solution. Yeah, it's not their fault that Hawkmoth takes advantage of them, but out of all two million people in this city, it was _just my luck_ that I get to be the one to save their sorry asses! They hound me like a celebrity, asking me about things they have no right to know. Why am I not allowed to have a life? They don't care how I feel. Nobody cares how I feel. Everyone just expects me to grin and bear it, like everything else going on in my life doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that I bend over backwards to help people in any way I can—" _Beep._ "—it doesn't matter that my _fucking partner_ doesn't take any of this seriously or listens to me when I tell him 'no' for the ten thousandth time—" _Beep._ "—it doesn't matter to _anyone_ the sacrifices I make to keep them all safe!" _Beep. Beep. Beep._

His brain can hardly keep up with her. "M'lady, _please_ —" There's one final _beep,_ and her transformation times out. There's a bright flash of pink light, and as her suit disappears, so does the yo-yo keeping him tied to the pole. He hits the ground with a _ghfoomrfph,_ chin smacking against the unforgiving concrete of the roof. He groans, limbs aching from being tied up so tight. He hazards looking up, and the finger is back in his face.

"And another thing!"

Oh.

Oh, _shit._

"It isn't just my superhero life, either!" Chat finds himself face to face—er, face to finger—with one Marinette Dupain-Cheng, face flushed with anger, cheeks streaked by tears, and hands trembling. "For _months_ now, my civilian life has been hell! That's the _one_ place I should be able to have one moment of fucking _peace,_ but no!" Shit. Shit. Shitty shit-shit. What the hell is he even supposed to do now? Weakly, he props himself up on one arm.

"M'lady—Princess—I never—"

"Don't you ' _Princess_ ' me!" She's howling now. He's never seen such unbridled ferocity from her before, and he hopes he's never on the receiving end of it again. "It was a pain already to try and juggle all the things I have to do: schoolwork, helping my parents in the bakery, designing for commissions, _this,_ but I could handle it. 'She's Ladybug, there's nothing she can't handle!'" A scoff. "But now, that's not enough anymore, I guess, because I've spent _years_ with my class, doing everything I can for them, and they've all turned on me! Nobody ever talks to me anymore because they all think I'm bullying some fucking new girl, and they side with a silver-tongued shitbag of a stranger over a friend they've had for years! Adrien-fucking-Agreste called me their 'everyday Ladybug,' but two days later that stupid title means shit to them all! Do you know how that feels? People don't even interact with me anymore if they can avoid it, and suddenly the only thing I'm good for anymore is if they need something done for them. A fucking _solution_ again, that's all I am to them. That's all I am to anyone anymore; I'm just fucking convenient for them!"

He wants to, needs to say something, but trying to interject is like trying to stop the TGV with the sheer weight of his body alone. "And while I'm talking about Adrien—" _oh shit_ "—you wanna know what he told me to do? 'Take the high road.' That's it. That was _fucking_ it. Evidently I'm supposed to just let this absolute bitch get away with everything, just to make sure _she_ doesn't get akumatized _again,_ but what about me? What about how she threatened to turn everyone I love away from me? How she told me she'd make sure my crush hated me, even though he's the literal only other person who hasn't fallen for her tricks—" _oh SHIT_ "—how I nearly got akumatized _because of her,_ and everyone else just chalked it up to me being a petty, jealous, stalker fangirl? Does _none of that matter to anyone?_ " She rears back, and for a moment he thinks she's got it all out until she lets out this absolutely primal scream. Is she going to stop? She looks like she might pass out if she doesn't stop screaming.

Scared to look away for even a moment, Chat hazards a glance at his ring when he hears it beep. One toe-bean left. If he loses his transformation now, he'd say there's about a 97.54% chance she'd kill him. Honestly, he's surprised she hasn't already. A red blur catches his eye, and he turns to see her kwami frantically flitting around, trying in vain to get her chosen's attention enough to calm her down. Marinette is still ranting, but there's so much of a choke to her voice from all her shouting and sobbing that he can hardly understand her anymore. He makes eye contact with the tiny being, who startles, gives him a sympathetic look, then dives into the small purse Marinette always wears. Ah. So that's what that's for. He wondered what she kept in there.

He knows he has to say something. The sun has long since set, and if they're up here for much longer, somebody might find them.

"Marinette," he softly cries, because his voice can't manage anything else after that outburst. Out of everything, it's the one thing that finally gets her attention. She turns her red, puffy eyes to him, and he almost loses himself for a second there because _God, those eyes_ , but he shakes it off and refocuses, trying to remember the words it sounds like nobody's told her in a long time.

"Marinette, I'm sorry."

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! This definitely didn't quite go the way I initially thought it was going to, so I apologize if a lot of it sounds like stuff you've read in other fics. (again, I'm glad I'm not the only one upset about the way Marinette's being treated in this show.) Still, I don't think enough people acknowledge that for as kind as Adrien is, he's a total doormat and has a tendency to go _wayyyyyy_ too far as Chat. Just because he grew up without much social experience doesn't mean he really has an excuse to act the way he does, and there's no real authority in his life (none he listens to, anyway) telling him that some of the ways he acts are kind of just... not. okay. like at all. I believe he is absolutely capable of change and growth, but he definitely has a long way to go. It's just that not enough people talk about it.  
> Edit: when I say I don't think enough people acknowledge the way Adrien acts or how Marinette feels, I mean _in the show._ I am well aware of what the fandom thinks on those subjects, but with the way the show is currently being written, the quality of the characters, as well as their interactions with others, has seriously declined. Yes, Marinette absolutely is a stalker when it comes to Adrien, but all her friends encouraged her behavior until Lila came around. (for evidence, see Gigantitan and Frozer.) Yes, Adrien doesn't often pull the "nice guy" card, especially when it comes to Ladybug, but when he does, it's uncomfortable to watch—let's not forget that at the end of Dark Cupid, he told Plagg that Ladybug's friendship was the greatest gift he could ask for, but he only says that _because she doesn't love him._ Note that I said only _some_ of his actions are unacceptable. He's a good kid, he really is, he just isn't as perfect as so many people paint him to be. Finally, the biggest thing I think people forget (or ignore) when it comes to their behaviors is these are just _kids_ we're watching. They don't always act correctly, and they can't always see that. We know their actions are wrong (or morally gray, at best, for some of them), but they don't. They may be stupid teens, but they can and will grow if you would just let them. That last part is @you, show writers.
> 
> I wrote this fic not because there isn't plenty of salt in this fandom already, but because I felt like writing it. Apologies if it felt like too much. I enjoyed writing it, so I'm sorry if you didn't enjoy reading it.
> 
> As always, all are welcome to hit me up on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/fabulously-frenzied)!


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